2002 FORD TAURUS child restraint

Seating and Safety Restraints 101
Seating 101
Safety restraints 105
Air bags 121
Child restraints 128
Driving 138
Starting 138
Brakes 143
Traction control/AdvanceTrac 146
Transmission operation 148
Vehicle loading 153
Trailer towing 155
Recreational towing 158
Roadside Emergencies 159
Hazard flasher switch 160
Fuses and relays 162
Changing tires 168
Jump starting 172
Wrecker towing 177
Customer Assistance 179
The dispute settlement board 182
Utilizing the mediation/arbitration 185
Getting assistance outside the U.S. and Canada 185
Ordering additional owner's literature 186
Reporting safety defects (U.S. only) 188
Cleaning 189
Cleaning your vehicle 189
Underbody preservation 195
Table of Contents
2

BREAKING-IN YOUR VEHICLE
There are no particular guidelines for breaking-in your vehicle. During
the first 1 600 km (1 000 miles) of driving, vary speeds frequently. This is
recommended to give the moving parts a chance to break in.
SPECIAL NOTICES
Emission warranty
The New Vehicle Limited Warranty includes Bumper-to-Bumper
Coverage, Safety Restraint Coverage, Corrosion Coverage, and 7.3L
Power Stroke Diesel Engine Coverage. In addition, your vehicle is eligible
for Emissions Defect and Emissions Performance Warranties. For a
detailed description of what is covered and what is not covered, refer to
theWarranty Guidethat is provided to you along with your Owner's
Guide.
Special instructions
For your safety, your vehicle is fitted with sophisticated electronic
controls.
By operating other electronic equipment (e.g. mobile telephone
without exterior aerial) electromagnetic fields can occur which
can cause malfunctions of the vehicle electronics. Therefore you should
observe the instructions of the equipment manufacturers.
Please read the sectionAir bagin theSeating and safety
restraintschapter. Failure to follow the specific warnings and
instructions could result in personal injury.
Rear facing child or baby seats shouldNEVERbe used in front
of a passenger side air bag.
Introduction
6

Safety belt precautions
Always drive and ride with your seatback upright and the lap
belt snug and low across the hips.
To reduce the risk of injury, make sure children sit where they
can be properly restrained.
Never let a passenger hold a child on his or her lap while the
vehicle is moving. The passenger cannot protect the child from
injury in a collision.
All occupants of the vehicle, including the driver, should always
properly wear their safety belts, even when an air bag (SRS) is
provided.
It is extremely dangerous to ride in a cargo area, inside or
outside of a vehicle. In a collision, people riding in these areas
are more likely to be seriously injured or killed. Do not allow people to
ride in any area of your vehicle that is not equipped with seats and
safety belts. Be sure everyone in your vehicle is in a seat and using a
safety belt properly.
In a rollover crash, an unbelted person is significantly more likely
to die than a person wearing a seat belt.
Each seating position in your vehicle has a specific safety belt
assembly which is made up of one buckle and one tongue that
are designed to be used as a pair. 1) Use the shoulder belt on the
outside shoulder only. Never wear the shoulder belt under the arm. 2)
Never swing the safety belt around your neck over the inside shoulder.
3) Never use a single belt for more than one person.
Always transport children 12 years old and under in the back
seat and always properly use appropriate child restraints.
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Vehicle sensitive mode
The vehicle sensitive mode is the normal retractor mode, allowing free
shoulder belt length adjustment to your movements and locking in
response to vehicle movement. For example, if the driver brakes
suddenly or turns a corner sharply, or the vehicle receives an impact of
approximately 8 km/h (5 mph) or more, the combination safety belts will
lock to help reduce forward movement of the driver and passengers.
Automatic locking mode
In this mode, the shoulder belt is automatically pre-locked. The belt will
still retract to remove any slack in the shoulder belt.
The automatic locking mode is not available on the driver safety belt.
When to use the automatic locking mode
²Any timea child safety seat is installed in the vehicle. Children 12
years old and under should be properly restrained in the rear seat
whenever possible. Refer toSafety restraints for childrenorSafety
seats for childrenlater in this chapter.
How to use the automatic locking mode
²Buckle the combination lap and
shoulder belt.
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110

²Grasp the shoulder portion and
pull downward until the entire
belt is extracted.
²Allow the belt to retract. As the belt retracts, you will hear a clicking
sound. This indicates the safety belt is now in the automatic locking
mode.
How to disengage the automatic locking mode
Ford Motor Company recommends that all safety belt assemblies
and attaching hardware should be inspected by a qualified
technician after any collision. Safety belt assemblies not in use during a
collision should also be inspected and replaced if either damage or
improper operation is noted.
Disconnect the combination lap/shoulder belt and allow it to retract
completely to disengage the automatic locking mode and activate the
vehicle sensitive (emergency) locking mode.
After any vehicle collision, the seat belt system at all outboard
seating positions (except driver, which has no ªautomatic locking
retractorº feature) must be checked by a qualified technician to verify
that the ªautomatic locking retractorº feature for child seats is still
functioning properly. In addition, all seat belts should be checked for
proper function.
BELT AND RETRACTOR ASSEMBLY MUST BE REPLACED if
the seat belt assembly ªautomatic locking retractorº feature or
any other seat belt function is not operating properly when checked
according to the procedures in Workshop Manual.
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Insert the tongue into the correct
buckle (the buckle closest to the
direction the tongue is coming
from). To lengthen the belt, turn the
tongue at a right angle to the belt
and pull across your lap until it
reaches the buckle. To tighten the
belt, pull the loose end of the belt
through the tongue until it fits
snugly across the hips.
Shorten and fasten the belt when
not in use.
Safety belts for rear-facing occupants (wagon only)
Never use child safety seats in the third seat of a wagon.
Your vehicle is equipped with safety belts containing an adjust tongue at
the rear-facing seating positions.
When the adjust tongue of the lap/shoulder combination seat belt is
latched into the buckle, the tongue will allow the lap portion to become
shorter, but locks the webbing in place to restrict it from becoming
longer.
Before you reach and latch a combination lap and shoulder belt having
an adjust tongue into the buckle, you may have to lengthen the lap belt
portion of it. To lengthen the lap belt, pull some webbing out of the
shoulder belt retractor. While holding the webbing below the tongue,
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114

Reasons given... Consider...
ªBelts wrinkle my clothesº Possibly, but a serious crash can do
much more than wrinkle your clothes,
particularly if you are unbelted.
ªThe people I'm with don't
wear beltsºSet the example, teen deaths occur 4
times more often in vehicles with
TWO or MORE people. Children and
younger brothers/sisters imitate
behavior they see.
ªI have an air bagº Air bags offer greater protection when
used with safety belts. Frontal airbags
are not designed to inflate in rear and
side crashes or rollovers.
ªI'd rather be thrown clearº
Not a good idea.Peoplewho are
ejected are 40 times more likely to
DIE.Safety belts help prevent ejection,
WE CAN'T ªPICK OUR CRASHº.
Do not sit on top of a buckled safety belt to avoid the Belt
Minder chime. Sitting on the safety belt will increase the risk of
injury in an accident. To disable (one-time) or deactivate the Belt
Minder feature please follow the directions stated below.
One time disable
Anytime the safety belt is buckled and then unbuckled during an ignition
ON cycle, BeltMinder will be disabled for that ignition cycle only. The
safety belt needs to be latched for a minimum of 3 seconds before belt
minder is disabled.
Deactivating/activating the BeltMinder feature
Read steps1-9thoroughly before proceeding with the
deactivation/activation programming procedure.
The BeltMinder feature can be deactivated/activated by performing the
following procedure:
Before following the procedure, make sure that:
²the parking brake is set
²the gearshift is in P (Park) (automatic transmission)
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118

Safety belt extension assembly
If the safety belt is too short when fully extended, there is a 20 cm
(8 inch) safety belt extension assembly that can be added (part number
611C22). This assembly can be obtained from your dealer at no cost.
Use only extensions manufactured by the same supplier as the safety
belt. Manufacturer identification is located at the end of the webbing on
the label. Also, use the safety belt extension only if the safety belt is too
short for you when fully extended. Do not use extensions to change the
fit of the shoulder belt across the torso.
Safety belt maintenance
Inspect the safety belt systems periodically to make sure they work
properly and are not damaged. Inspect the safety belts to make sure
there are no nicks, tears or cuts. Replace if necessary. All safety belt
assemblies, including retractors, buckles, front seat belt buckle
assemblies, buckle support assemblies (slide bar-if equipped), shoulder
belt height adjusters (if equipped), shoulder belt guide on seatback (if
equipped), child safety seat tether bracket assemblies (if equipped),
LATCH child seat tether anchors and lower anchors (if equipped), and
attaching hardware, should be inspected after a collision. Ford Motor
Company recommends that all safety belt assemblies used in vehicles
involved in a collision be replaced. However, if the collision was minor
and a qualified technician finds that the belts do not show damage and
continue to operate properly, they do not need to be replaced. Safety
belt assemblies not in use during a collision should also be inspected and
replaced if either damage or improper operation is noted.
Failure to inspect and if necessary replace the safety belt
assembly under the above conditions could result in severe
personal injuries in the event of a collision.
Refer toCleaning and maintaining the safety beltsin theCleaning
chapter.
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120